Will ETH once again see a capital inflow? Sharplink and BitMine are added to the Russell Index list

Author: Blue Fox Notes

Two publicly traded companies related to Ethereum (ETH) (Sharplink SBET and BitMine BMNR)
will officially be included in the U.S. Russell Index on June 29, 2026 (U.S. stock market open).

Current situation:

How to understand?

Imagine the U.S. has a super large passive investment “automatic shopping system”—like those passive index funds, ETFs, pension funds, 401(k) plans, etc.

They do not pick stocks themselves but strictly buy according to which companies are on the Russell Index list and their respective weights.

This time, SBET and BMNR being added to the list is equivalent to:

Opening the “passive capital gate” for SBET and BMNR, allowing millions of ordinary investors who don’t trade cryptocurrencies or understand Ethereum to also hold them automatically, effectively pushing Ethereum’s opportunities into mainstream traditional finance channels.

Specifically,

The global funds tracking the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 are enormous (trillions of dollars).

Once officially included, these funds must buy the corresponding stocks to match the index.

In the past, only active crypto investors would research and buy these stocks.

Now, after being included in the index, mainstream investors who “are too lazy to pick stocks and only buy index funds” (including many retail and institutional investors) will also have their money automatically flow into SBET and BMNR.

This is akin to naturally integrating Ethereum-related investment opportunities into mainstream U.S. traditional financial portfolios.

Passive fund purchases create real demand, especially around the inclusion date, often leading to short-term stock price support (the so-called “index inclusion effect”).

In the long run, it will also enhance stock liquidity and institutional ownership (many mature companies have passive ownership ratios exceeding 20-25%).

It should be noted that, passive funds buy stocks of SBET and BMNR, not ETH.
To match the index, funds must buy these two stocks, not directly buy ETH on exchanges. However, this will indirectly promote the companies to buy more ETH.